The Kremlin said on Monday that a “vacuum” had been created in the area of ​​arms control due to the deterioration of relations between a number of states, but claimed that Russia was not to blame for the situation, Reuters and Agerpres report.

Dmytro Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesmanPhoto: Serhii Guneev / Sputnik / Profimedia

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to officially “denounce” the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), which dates back to the end of the Cold War.

“(…) in this area of ​​arms control, strategic stability, there is, of course, a big vacuum now, which, ideally, should be urgently filled by new acts of international law to regulate this situation,” he said. Peskov during the daily press briefing.

“This is in the interests of the whole world. But for this we need functional bilateral relations with a number of states, which are not there now,” he said, adding that “it’s not our fault.”

Russia withdrew from international arms control treaties signed with the West

The 1990 FACE treaty imposed restrictions on the placement of military equipment in Europe. Russia suspended participation in this treaty back in 2007, and in 2015 “completely terminated”.

This month, Putin signed a decree symbolically denouncing the treaty after a debate and vote in Russia’s bicameral parliament on the issue.

Russia recently suspended a number of arms control agreements with Western nations, including the New Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (with the US), and began transferring tactical nuclear weapons to neighboring Belarus.

Relations between Moscow and the West are at their lowest level since the end of the Cold War after Putin sent tens of thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, as part of what he called a “special military operation” to protect Russia’s security from pro-Western authorities in Kyiv.

Ukraine and its Western allies say Russia’s actions are an unprovoked war of aggression to seize territory, Reuters reports.

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